A conventional PoE apparatus (e.g., in accordance with IEEE 802.3-2009 or IEEE 802.3at) typically includes a plurality of power source equipments (PSEs), each of which includes a plurality of power sourcing ports that provide power to various applications coupled to the ports. Each PSE includes a controller (PSE controller) that manages a local power budget of the PSE, allocating the available local power among the power sourcing ports. The local power budgets of the PSEs are accounted for in a global (i.e., total) power budget of the PoE apparatus. The global power budget is typically managed by a suitably programmed microcontroller unit that allocates the total available power among the PSE controllers.
An example of a conventional PoE apparatus such as described above is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1. A plurality of PSE controllers at 10 are coupled to a power management controller (microcontroller unit) 11 by a bus 12. The separate power management controller 11 manages the global power budget, but disadvantageously increases the design complexity, manufacturing expense and size of the PoE apparatus.
It is desirable in view of the foregoing to provide a solution for managing the global power budget of a PoE apparatus with reduced complexity, size and expense relative to conventional approaches such as the example described above.